Bound by the Heart

“You cannot force things apart that are bound at the heart.” 

-Ashely Lorenzana-

Our last day in Nairobi was yesterday. We departed that beautiful city late on Friday night and now we are sitting in London waiting to come back home. I'm clear that we have two homes, one in Kenya with all of our Rafiki's and one in North Carolina with the amazing community that supported us in being able to come do amazing work with the Africa Yoga Project. My heart is bursting with gratitude.

We spent our last day in Nairobi buying some last minute things at the Masaai Market, eating lunch with our friends, and going to Gracious School to teach music and yoga one last time.  The children at Gracious were elated when we arrived and we had mixed emotions, joy and sadness.  We've had such a transformative experience at Gracious and we are joyful about the connections and reunions with old friends but we are also sad to leave this place and these people whom we are so attached too.  At Gracious I taught some yoga and Jeff taught music. He brought his pocket trumpet and started playing When the Saints go Marching In, the children burst into song and they knew all of the words.  It was a sight to see.  At the end of class the School Mother, Teacher Happiness, showered us with compliments, love, and a plea for us to stay and if we couldn't stay, a wish for us to return very soon. 

It's true we are planning to return next January and we will continue our work with this amazing project made up of spectacular people, teachers, yogis, activists, and artists.  If you are waiting for us in NC we will see you very soon and if you are missing us in Kenya we will see you again.  For now you are all in our hearts and we hold you close because you have held us and our work so close to your hearts.

Last Days

The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today. 
-Elbert Hubbard-

We spent the beginning of our week on safari in the most beautiful place I have ever been. We went to the Masaai Mara for a few days and experienced the vast landscape of the Serengeti, encountered more big cats than we ever have, and connected with my favorite creature, the elephant.

 

We came back to the city yesterday and went to a wonderful community meeting called Open Corner. Open Corner is facilitated by a fantastic woman and the way it works is that folks show up, everyone writes a question and puts it in a bowl and the facilitator picks out the question and then for 90 minutes we talk about the question. Well, well, my question got picked and we had a discussion about:  What needs to happen for people to be less motivated by fear and more motivated by love?  Everyone talked in the room and the topics ranged from fear, love, death, fear of flying, compassion, kindness, self-love, attachment, letting go, and feeling like there is enough.  I made new connections and after we had appetizers and drinks with our new friends.

Today we spent time working with the teachers. The women asked if I would lead a group about relationships. Not surprisingly the topics that came up were letting go, anger, acceptance, self-love, self-esteem, and trust. The women were very supportive of each other and shared openly. I felt so honored to be in the space with them and I noticed some sadness that I will be leaving tomorrow. I feel connected here, at home, and I'm doing really good work and making change. I am ready to come home and I want to stay. Good thing we're coming back next year.

This afternoon we went with one of our friends, Anthony who is an amazing Africa Yoga Project teacher, , to meet his sister Lillian. Anthony asked us to sponsor her in school last year because no one in the family could pay the school fees. This is a common issue here and luckily we knew someone who could help us move through the system and start paying Lillian's school fees. When we were in Kenya last year we met Brad Broder who is Paige's brother-n-law.  He coordinates the Kenya Education Fund and we worked with them to set up the school fees for Lillian. She has been writing us letters all year and we were eager to meet her. We got to take Anthony, his cousin, and Irene to see Lillian today. At first she had no idea who we were. Americans have never visited her before and I think Jeff is the first white person to ever visit the school.  Anthony explained to his sister who we were and then she smiled and said "you are Michelle and you are Herrick", she meant Jeff. We talked to her about school, her favorite subject, her desire to be a scientist when she grows up and we had a wonderful visit sitting and standing under the mango tree.

Tomorrow is our last day and we are already mourning leaving this beautiful place.

The Qualities of a King

Today Jeff and I headed out of the city for a few days to the Savanna in the Masaai Mara. It is absolutely beautiful here and I am reminded of how big the world actually is. It is Martin Luther King Jr. Day today back home and I usually celebrate MLK Jr. Day with some service work, a potluck dinner with friends, teaching yoga focused on MLK, or a quiet day reflecting on the gifts that we are still receiving from MLK's teaching.
Today I got to celebrate by encountering a King Lion in the wild.

I started to consider the qualities of a lion, they have to know when to be fierce, when to rest, how to manage their energy and effort, and they have to act with precision, purpose, and intention.  Martin Luther King Jr. embodied all of these qualities and today it felt amazing under the sunlight observing two lions just being held by the grains of grass surrounding them.
So very appropriate that we ran into a King Lion resting under the tree with a Queen lion. The lions were very aware that we were around but they just looked up once and kept on resting.

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. 

-Martin Luther King Jr.-

We will be on safari for a few days before returning for two more days of work with the Africa Yoga Project. We'll post some photos and stories of our experience in this vast landscape of beauty and wonder.

Leadership

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. —Lao Tzu

This past week I've gotten to work with the Africa Yoga Project teachers and it has been a transformative experience. As an ambassador for AYP not only do I agree to fundraise to support the mission and vision of AYP but I also consider what gift I can share when I am here that will make a long lasting impact. Last year I offered a workshop to the teachers on what trauma is to provide a deeper understanding of what Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is and to explain that trauma impacts us physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. I provided skills to the teachers that they are using in their outreaches and private classes that focus on calming the nervous system.  So much of Africa Yoga Project's model stresses empowerment and cultivating leaders. Last year I had lovely co-leaders to the women's and men's group and this year I considered how I could build on what I offered last year and I chose to co-lead a workshop on the specific trauma teachers experienced as a result of post election violence.  Co-leading the women's and men's group was eye opening. Each teacher had been personally impacted by the post election violence and they were processing their trauma in the midst of another election season. Nominations day was on Thursday and Friday and tensions were high, and the election is scheduled on March 4th and people expressed how scared they are about this election and the potential for tribalism and corrupt politics to lead to violence.  In our groups we had a mini-review of the work we did last year and then moved right into the core reasons people think violence happens. An interesting question came up. Did tribalism exist before the election or did the election cause tribalism? Some people expressed that the tribes lived in space with one another connected and that due to the last election, tribalism occurred, but others feel like tribalism has always existed and the election heightened the tension between tribes. Other teachers described the impact of the post election violence, there was land stealing, killing, oppression, lack of resources, economic distress; sound familiar?

After understanding the issue we moved into transforming the issue. A very wise student reminded us that the election is an event and that people will move through it in their own way, but it is just a moment in time. He tapped into the ability for people to survive just as they did after the last election.  I led a practice where I warmed up the students with some sun salutations and then I called out words like role, violent, warrior, guard, one, Kenya, connection, peace. I asked the students to make a shape in their body that represented that word. This activity was a good way for people to embody these words. We all have things that come to mind when we think of violence or peace, and it's good to understand that at any moment we can call these up and act from these places. This activity was to root people in the idea that we all have choice and to cultivate peace we must be peace and we must recognize when we aren't peace and change.  

At the end of the the women's and men's group we moved into prevention and resourcing. After some team building I broke teachers into small groups to discuss what they learned this week and to come up with a lesson plan focused on peace for their outreaches so they could share this information and it's impact on the 5000 students they teach a week. The groups presented back to the large group and they offered things from meditations on peace and connection, to a yoga practice infused with peace, to having people make shapes in their body representing peace, to partner yoga.  This workshop had a big impact on the teachers and I know it will spread out to the people they connect with each day.  I feel honored that they shared with me, honored to have co-led these groups with the amazing leaders of AYP and honored to do this work.  Next year I will be building on this work by training the teachers how to facilitate a conversations about trauma and resourcing in their outreaches and then going to the outreaches with the teachers coaching the them on their facilitation.  I am so inspired by the teachers and their power. They keep growing and growing and I will keep supporting them along the way. 

On another note, we haven't been able to go to Gracious School for the past two days because of Nominations here so we will be going next week one more time to see the children and continue the music program. 

Thanks for reading. 

Darkness cannot drive out darkness,

I woke up this morning and went on a run in the Arboretum. On my way there I encountered a rather nice police person with a big AK47.  It was a bit scary because I am afraid of any size gun but the big guns scare me even more. I am trying to reconcile the contradiction of smiling and being friendly with holding a gun that could shoot anyone at anytime.  The arboretum was nice, quiet, cool, and green. 
Then we headed to the Shine Center.  I spent the morning co-leading the men's group. One of the participants in the group reminded me of one of my favorite quotes. 

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” 

― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The men's group continued to discuss the post election violence as it was nominations day here. It turns out that some of the nominations were canceled today and will be rescheduled for tomorrow. There were more police around today and as far as we know there weren't any acts of violence.  The group ended with talking about peace and how you must be peace to create peace.  Tomorrow we will be working with the men and women, leading a power yoga practice, working on how to use the information they have learned from the workshops in their outreaches in the slums.  This has been deep work and transformative and I am so grateful that the teachers have opened up in the ways they have. 

We were supposed to go to Gracious School today and tomorrow but because of nominations day here and the potential for violence at polling stations we aren't going to be able to go to the outreach at the school this week. We are sad about this but we are hoping to go next week to see the children and teach one last time before we head back to NC.

Since we couldn't go to Gracious school we headed to the forest and went on a beautiful hike. It was so nice to be out in the fresh air and be surrounded by lush forest. It was a nice way to end a the day.  We are so glad you are enjoying our blog and we'll keep posting as we have updates. 

“Love is an expression of power. We can use it to transform our world.”

“Love is an expression of power. We can use it to transform our world.”

-Ericka Huggins-

I spent part of my day at the Shine Center co-leading the men's group on trauma. I felt honored that the male teachers shared their experiences of post election violence with me. I realize I don't live here and I'll be gone when the election happens.  I am an outsider but they let me in.  They shared their stories, played, connected to their power, and did some deep work. The work will continue tomorrow, which is timely. It is the nomination day tomorrow, similar to a primary in the States. I've gotten two alerts from the State Department about how dangerous Kenya is which is both scary and only a snap shot of what is happening here. Lots of things in life are scary and this place, Kenya, is beautiful.  We'll be going into the office in the morning and then heading on a hike to be outside in nature and we'll be hoping for peace as the nominations happen and the election approaches.

We spent our afternoon at Gracious School.  

  

                                                                                                      Anita and the yoga teachers created this sacred circle with the students. 

The best chair poses ever. 

 Jeff ended class with a sweet serenade on the guitar. The students roped him into singing some songs in swahili. So fun. 

We are the Music Makers

“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.” 

-Arthur O'Shaughnessy-

I spent the morning with the amazing women's group. They shared, connected, and decided to resume their women's group two times a month starting next Monday. I am so glad they will continue to meet and share and support one another. Tomorrow I co-lead the men's group.  While I was leading the women's group Jeff was preparing to teach more music at Gracious School. 

It was Jeff's second day at Gracious School and Papa, one of the Africa Yoga Project teachers, brought flutes to the school. The flutes are handmade by Papa's friend, they are made out of bamboo.  Jeff will continue his work there tomorrow. He'll be teaching the cupid shuffle and I cannot wait. 

Since pictures say a thousand words we'll just let you look and enjoy. 

Trauma and Resilience

“We don't heal in isolation, but in community.” 

S. Kelly Harrell

I had an opening experience this morning. 

I started off my day leading a yoga class with 20 other women in preparation for the women's group I co-led today with Irene, one of our rafikis, here. Rafiki means friend and it was an honor to co-lead a group with Irene. This group is a continuation of the work I began last year.   Last year I worked with the women in a group and then the men and then women and men together to talk about trauma. It's been a whole year and I wasn't sure what people would remember. Irene and I began the group by centering and then asking people what trauma is; immediately hands went up and women started sharing the definition, the expressions of trauma, mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual, and the specific ways trauma can impact us. I was blown away because sometimes it's hard for me to remember what I ate for lunch the day before let alone what I was doing a year ago, but these women remembered their workshop from last year and I could really see the impact and power of the work that I am doing here with the Africa Yoga Project. We moved on to discuss the violence they experienced post election in 2007 and 2008. They shared stories of people being killed in front of them, them being robbed, they shared their own stories of assault, and family members who they lost.  They shared their fears and concerns. They really opened up and so did I. I am so grateful that they trust me enough to share what they have been through, and I'm glad they are finding support by talking to one another.  We will continue the women's group tomorrow and discuss the upcoming election, which is in March, and talk about ways to prevent violence and how they can integrate the information they are learning through these workshops into their yoga outreaches.  Today the women kept referencing themselves as ambassadors of peace and they have the capacity to be just that, the teachers of Africa Yoga Project reach 5000 people a week, imagine what could happen if they shared their message of peace with 5000 people. Amazing.


We spent the afternoon going to Gracious School. Gracious is the school that we taught in last year. I taught yoga, Jeff taught music. The school was recently taken over by a campaign with the desks locked inside and the children didn't have a place to go. Their main teacher, Teacher Happiness, moved them into a temporary place which is small and over capacity. Naturally the Africa Yoga Project stepped in and the money that we raised through our fundraising campaign is going to building a new school for Gracious.  The government was able to give them a plot of land and we went there today to see the progress on the school. 

His shirt says "Made with Love."

WOW!!

We walked back to the temporary space they are meeting in and taught yoga and music. The children were elated to see us and we were welcomed and received with so much love just because we showed up. The children shared how happy they are that we didn't forget them and that we came back to work with them. 

My heart is happy. I think Jeff's heart is pretty happy too. 

Until tomorrow. 

I got to do this yesterday.

I taught 120 people yoga in a hot sweaty room. The most amazing feedback I got was "this wasn't a workout, this was yoga." I brought my heart into the practice and teaching and I was on fire.  It was exhilarating and such an honor and privilege to teach.

After teaching Jeff and I escaped the city for an evening with Paige and Billy and went to Sweet Waters Park.  Don't worry we used money out of our pockets to pay for this, the money you all donated to support us in supporting the Africa Yoga project is going to good use building a school.  We went on a night and morning safari drive, and then went to see the most amazing chimpanzees. Tomorrow I'll start the good work of leading a women's group for the teachers to talk about their anxiety related to the upcoming election and Jeff will be visiting Gracious School in Huruma and teaching music.

Night, night.

If you want to master a thing....

If you want to learn a thing, read that. If you want to know a thing, write that; if you want to master a thing, teach that.' ~ Yogi Bhajan We started our day out at the new Africa Yoga Project space, the Shine Center.  It's a beautiful space and there is so much room for teaching, training, and office work. I'm thrilled I'll be teaching class in the space tomorrow to over 100 people. We moved on to Kariobangi to an outreach in a social hall. We visited this outreach a year ago and it was amazing to see the growth in the class and the teachers since our last visit.

After the outreach we Sophia hosted us at her house. She prepared a yummy meal of potatoes, bananas, tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. We all cozied up into her space and ate, talked, and drank Stoneys. I am grateful that she graciously welcomed us into her home. 






In the afternoon we took a journey to Kambui School for the Deaf. Irene, our Rafiki, taught 108 deaf children yoga. I managed to wrangle the camera away from Jeff and captured some sweet moments of him with his new friends.  Jeff brought some donated soccer balls over so after yoga they played soccer and they had a blast. At one point a gaggle of young girls came running across the field with a goal to set up their own game. 

I'm constantly amazed by the dedication and heart of the Africa Yoga Project teachers and students. They are always thanking us for showing up and making this journey and I'm not sure they realize that we wouldn't be here without them. We are here because of the life changing work Africa Yoga Project engages in. We are here because they inspired us to be here and it is true to master a thing you must teach it. They teach with their full selves and open hearts.  Tomorrow I will teach them from my heart and I hope I move them in all the ways they have moved me, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and mentally.